In spring-like weather, people looking for recreation feel the increasing urge to go outside – what are the possibilities to prevent cyclists and hikers from meeting on the same paths? Key partner DSFT discovers the possibilities to enjoy nature in a corona-proof way.READ MORE
There are thousands of tourist destinations around the world, from small tourist attractions to entire countries, from capitals to remote villages. Arguably, the most important quality of any tourist destination and all of its stakeholders is whether it is successful or not i.e., whether it accumulates more economic benefits than economic costs (Robinson, et.al, 2013). It is a fact that successful destinations are not only marketed in a modern, innovative and creative way, but also managed in the same manner (Morrison, 2013). Nowadays, efficient destination management and marketing requires more diverse skills in order to address the high competition and stand out from the rest. The proper usage and integration of modern technologies are one of the most important tools in this process. Therefore, the development of digital skills becomes crucial for successful destination management organisations (DMOs).READ MORE
The Next Tourism Generation Alliance interviewed Sophie van den Top, who graduated by writing her thesis on the possibilities to minimalizing the negative impacts caused by the different kind of excursions a tour operator can offer for FOX Travel. Her research is awarded with the TUI-CELTH Sustainable Tourism Award on Friday 8 november 2019. This award is granted each year to students with the best thesis on sustainable tourism in the Netherlands. Sophie from Saxion University developed criteria on how to improve the sustainability of excursions at tourism destinations. In this blog, she will highlight some of the most important outcomes of her research.
The Next Tourism Generation project (NTG), with the establishment of the first European Blueprint Sector Skills Alliance for the tourism sector, will identify skills for managing over tourism and will be included in the destination management skills matrix. READ MORE
Another year has flown by and with the holidays approaching very soon, the Next Tourism Generation Alliance had a look at the most-read blog articles on the website. With the main focus on digital, social and green skills in five different sub-sectors in tourism and hospitality, many case studies, events and expert interviews were highlighted in the blog section. In the coming year, many more hot topics will be discussed on the website and shared on our social media channels.
Before we head off to 2020, let’s have a look at the top ten tourism topics of 2019. Enjoy!READ MORE
As the founder of Innofest, Anna van Nunen is all about bringing together innovation, sustainability and the world of festivals: festival driven innovation. Innofest uses festivals as testing grounds for innovation pilots and offers impact entrepreneurs a safe, measurable and private environment to test their prototypes. All innovation trends come along: from blockchain ticketing and circular economy to smart grid solutions. Anna makes these trends concrete and puts them into practice at festivals, one of the fastest-growing tourism sectors in the Netherlands.READ MORE
At the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century, the GDSs (Global Distribution Systems), Internet, social media, websites and mobile applications, made the world smaller and changed the rules of the business and competition among travel, tourism and hospitality companies. Now the tourism industry is facing a new revolution, one more powerful, transformative and with longer-term implications than the previous changes. Tourism is entering the robotics era. Stanislav Ivanov from NTG key partner Varna University of Management, wrote an interesting blog on this matter.READ MORE
A common trend with regards to holiday behavior in some NTG partner countries such as Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland and The Netherlands is that people prefer to travel abroad to spend their free time, instead of spending time in their home countries.READ MORE
Digital self-learning skills are very important in different tourism sub-sectors and go hand in hand with the different skill sets that the Next Tourism Generation (NTG) Alliance focuses on. Based on the NTG interview research outcomes, self-learning is ‘a must’ when it comes to being employed in the tourism industry. READ MORE
Cardiff Met is the Wales partner in the Next Tourism Generation (NTG) Alliance that aims to help address digital and sustainability skills gaps in tourism and related sectors. Over the last ten years in different parts of Wales, various Tourism Ambassador training programmes have developed to help deliver destination management objectives. Ambassador programmes recruit and train people to be experts on their distinctive area and provide a unique and authentic experience for tourists imparting a “sense of place”. Training programmes increase customer care and digital skills and promote conservation of the natural environment and cultural heritage. Benefits to the destination from such programmes potentially include active networking, improved local product knowledge and communication, enhanced visitor experience and higher visitor numbers, spend and length of stay by presenting perspectives of Ambassadors and other organisations that attended. The workshop was a collaboration between the NTG project at Cardiff Met and Snowdonia National Park to develop an Ambassador training programme for Snowdon Mountain (Yr Wyddfa), the highest and most visited peak in Wales. READ MORE